paper

Universal bounds on optimization of free energy harvesting

arXiv:2303.04975 · doi:10.1103/PhysRevResearch.6.013275

Abstract

Harvesting free energy from the environment is essential for the operation of many biological and artificial systems. We investigate the maximum rate of harvesting achievable by optimizing a set of reactions in a Markovian system, possibly given topological, kinetic, and thermodynamic constraints. We show that the maximum harvesting rate can be expressed as a variational principle, which we solve in closed-form for three physically meaningful regimes. Our approach is relevant for optimal design and for quantifying efficiency of existing reactions. Our results are illustrated on bacteriorhodopsin, a light-driven proton pump from Archae, which is found to be close to optimal under realistic conditions.

Physical Review Research, 2024

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